Obtaining access to anything related to sexual healthcare is no easy feat here in the U.S. Your ability to get an abortion changes based on where you live, and yes, we have to go door-to-door to rally support for basic and vital pro-choice rights.
Having strong, accessible contraceptive healthcare lessens the need for abortions altogether — and is therefore just as important. And with a highly anti-reproductive rights healthcare bill currently making its slimy, fairly contested way through Congress, any whiff of reason is welcome.
In stark contrast to that tension, UK drugstore Superdrug has sidestepped the dragging pace of policymakers and created their own generic of the morning after pill, Metro reports. Wow! Rocket science.
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Superdrug will only charge £13.49 for their emergency contraceptive, which would normally cost £25 (plus the answers to a lot of humiliating questions) at pharmacies. Just like its more expensive counterpart, Superdrug's version has the same 1.5mg of levonorgestrel (the contraceptive hormone used in Plan B, Mirena, and Liletta) in it, and can be taken up to 72 hours after unprotected sex or your contraception failing. The drug will soon be ready for pickup at more than 200 Superdrug locations, and will make its debut on the website later on this year.
Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), said in a statement to Metro, "We know the high cost of emergency contraception can be a major barrier to women accessing it when their regular method fails. Superdrug has illustrated that it’s perfectly possible to sell this safe and effective medication to women at a significantly more affordable price than is currently on offer."
‘There is frankly now no excuse for others not to do the same," she added.
Emergency contraception like Plan B and Teva Aftera is available at drugstores and clinics here in the U.S., but still at exorbitantly high prices ($30-$40 for a single dose) — maybe we should take the hint.